Bloodborne

Bloodborne is a dark action RPG by FromSoftware, its story built on a deep foundation of the Cthulhu mythos, with a world steeped in mystery, madness, and the unknown.

The main stage of the game is an ancient city tucked away in the mountains of a distant land—Yharnam. Yharnam is an intensely closed-off, insular city, yet it became world-famous for a mysterious medical technique: Blood Healing. This treatment was said to cure almost any disease, drawing countless patients, travelers, and researchers from afar in hopes of ridding themselves of their ailments.

But as blood healing spread, a terrifying plague began to sweep through Yharnam—the Beast Scourge. The infected gradually lose their minds and eventually transform into frenzied, bloodthirsty beasts. The whole city descended into chaos and fear, and it is against this backdrop that the player's character, a Hunter, arrives in Yharnam.

As the story unfolds, the player slowly discovers: beasthood is no ordinary disease—it is tied to beings of a higher order.

The Great Ones and the Truth of the Cosmos

In the world of Bloodborne, there existed in ancient times a class of mysterious beings called the Great Ones. These are not gods in the traditional sense but higher-dimensional lifeforms from the depths of the cosmos. They possess wisdom and power far beyond human comprehension, and their forms are often indescribable.

In the Cthulhu mythos, similar beings are typically known as:

• Old Ones
• Elder Gods
• Outer Gods

These Great Ones existed in this world since ancient times, but as the ages passed, their physical bodies withered away, leaving only their immense minds and consciousness still drifting through the cosmos.

The Great Ones yearn to produce offspring, but their forms and biology are so alien that they usually cannot reproduce on their own, so they attempt to use humans or other lifeforms as vessels to bear new "children of the gods." This became the crucial starting point of the entire story.

The Discovery of Pthumeru

Early in human history, an ancient civilization called Pthumeru built a highly advanced city underground. The Pthumerians lived for generations in these subterranean ruins, conducting extensive research into ancient relics and mysterious powers. During one expedition, they discovered the remains of a Great One and extracted from it a peculiar substance:

The Old Blood

This blood possesses uncanny power:

• It can rapidly cure disease
• It can strengthen the human body
• It can even heighten one's spiritual perception

But it comes with severe side effects. Humans exposed to the Old Blood for too long gradually lose their reason and ultimately succumb to beasthood.

The Church and the Rise of Blood Healing

After the Pthumerian ruins were rediscovered, a powerful organization was founded in Yharnam: the Healing Church. Using the Old Blood, the Church developed its famous blood healing techniques and quickly turned Yharnam into a world-renowned holy land of medicine. Patients flocked there for treatment, and the city prospered.

Yet as blood healing was used more and more widely, the beast plague began to erupt across the city. To deal with it, the Church secretly established a new organization: the Hunters. A Hunter's duty is a single one:

Hunt down those who have turned into beasts, under the cover of night.

This is what came to be known as The Hunt.

The Dream and the Hunter's Fate

After receiving a blood transfusion, the player's Hunter is drawn into a mysterious realm: the Hunter's Dream. It is a special domain created by the power of the Great Ones, and the place where Hunters endlessly return to life. Every time a Hunter dies, they awaken again in the Dream and re-enter Yharnam to continue the hunt.

But as the story progresses, the Hunter gradually discovers that Yharnam's calamity, the secret of blood healing, the existence of the Great Ones, and the Dream itself all conceal a deeper truth.

What Bloodborne Is Really About

On the surface, Bloodborne tells the story of Hunters battling beasts. But at a deeper level, what it truly explores is:

• Humanity's greed for powers beyond its grasp
• The pursuit of gods and the truth of the cosmos
• And the boundary between reason and madness

As players dig deeper into the world's secrets, humanity comes to realize a cruel fact: the cosmos is far vaster—and far more terrifying—than mankind ever imagined.